GENERAL FEATURES 89 



behaves in this singular manner, but those named are sure to act 

 that way when they are not asleep. 



§ 28. Wings Opened Out Flat. 



Many butterflies have a habit of alighting upon the ground and 

 opening out the wings flat, with their backs to the sun ; this is 

 more noticeable in the cool of the morning and toward evening. 

 Or in the case of skippers, they open out the hind wings only, 

 leaving the fore wings upright as usual. This opening of the 

 wings is for warmth, only ; they never do it when the weather is 

 warm enough for them to be comfortable: though of course, not 

 all kinds have the same requirement ; a tropical species will want 

 the heat of the sun when a colder one will not. On the West 

 Coast the species most given to warming his back in the sun's 

 rays, is Pyrameis Carye. 



§ 29. At Rest. 



Butterflies have been classified into two groups : The "true but- 

 terflies," which always carry all wings upright or back to back 

 when at rest, and the "skippers," which usually carry the hind 

 wings horizontal when at rest. This classification is subject to 

 correction and amendment in relation to the West Coast butter- 

 flies, for not all the large, "true" butterflies carry their wings up- 

 right ; for e.xample, Bredowi, Lorquini, and Idnna usually carry 

 all their wings flat when at rest, and Papilios frequently do ; while 

 not all the skippers carry their hind wings flat, and some of them 

 never do. 



This foregoing classification of upright wings is in contra-dis- 

 tinction to the nocturnal-flying lepidoptera or moths, the wings of 

 which are usually carried flat, or sloping both ways, like the roof 

 of a house. 



§ 30. Mimicry, or Simul.xtion. 



A good deal has been written about coloration, or the lack of 

 it, as a means of protection to butterflies, and of mimicry, or that 

 one species simulates some other object or thing for their better 

 protection from birds, or from the attacks of other supposed ene- 

 mies. The most of this talk is mere guesswork and speculation, 

 indulged in by writers in order to show up the wisdom of Nature 

 to those less wise than themselves. I do not believe a word of this 

 mimicry theory : in general terms I know it to be false. 



